Moving Forward
by Ramix
Summary: With the Despair of the past behind them and the Hope of the future ahead of them, Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri can begin to heal. Although their pain is not over, their joyful life together can finally begin.
1. Return

**I cannot tell you how long I have been waiting to write this. I've had all these ideas for Naegiri fics running around in my head for weeks, but I had to wait for Kirigiri to be confirmed alive in order to write them, and after Side: Hope aired I rewrote Something Stolen before finally moving on to this. This will be a series of inter-connected one-shots dealing with Naegi and Kirigiri's life after the events of DR3. The plan for now is 6 chapters (including this one) with the last 3 forming a story arc. We'll see if things go according to plan. I hope you enjoy it, and please leave your reviews. Also, a big thanks to my friend The Apocryphal One for beta-reading this for me. Check out her writing later, it's great. Credit to 8fight from tumblr for the cover art. Check out their blog, it's great.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1: Return**_

Makoto Naegi walked down the hallway of the bottom level of the boat he and his friends were travelling on. Since most of the aerial vehicles were being used to ferry the wounded soldiers from the battle, the 78th class had elected to travel by water. They had also chosen this method of travel because the ship was staffed with a medical crew, which was important since three of them required medical attention, one in particular more than others. This particular person was the reason that Naegi was currently travelling the ship.

He stopped in front of the door to what he identified as the bunk Kirigiri had taken for herself and knocked.

"Come in," answered a voice from inside, sounding far weaker than he would've liked.

Naegi opened the door to see Kirigiri lying on her bed. She smiled upon seeing him and sat up, scooting over to give him a space to sit on her right side. The after-effects of the poison were still present, but receding. Most of her body had regained its normal complexion, only a splotch of skin from the bottom of her face across her jawline and at the top of her throat remained sickly and purple, and only a few veins were still bulging across the discolored part of her skin. Returning her smile, he obliged her, and sat down.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Better," she answered before clearing her throat, then continuing with a clearer voice. "Tired, still a little woozy, and my throat hurts, but at least I can move my left arm again" she experimentally flexed her fingers to demonstrate her point.

Naegi chuckled. "Out of all of us, you have the most reason to be tired today."

"I don't know about that, I wasn't running around as much as the rest of you," she replied lightly.

"Kirigiri, you _died_ ," Naegi said, more seriously.

"Well, I didn't really die. If I had, I wouldn't be here right now, would I?" she said jokingly.

Naegi frowned, clearly not appreciating her attempts at humor.

Kirigiri's face dropped. "Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," he responded, hesitantly reaching out to place his hand atop hers. Kirigiri responded by gripping his hand in her own, smiling at him.

The pair sat in silence for a bit before Naegi spoke up hesitantly. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Kirigiri frowned. "I think we both know the answer to that question…"

Naegi sighed. "But what about the medicine? Why didn't you tell any of us?"

She averted her gaze. "I… wasn't sure if it would work. In the case that the poison really did kill me, I didn't want you to try and fail to save me, because I knew you would blame yourself."

Naegi squeezed her hand. "Of course I'd blame myself; you gave your life for me. How could I not?" he said as he hung his head.

"I'm sorry…" she said, tightening her grip on his hand in response. "But I'm here now. I'm fine." She smiled at him, and he looked up at her to return the gesture.

Naegi hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "You're sure you're going to be okay? If you feel anything wrong, please tell me, o-or the doctors, or anyone, really. B-but I'd like it if you let me know," he stammered nervously, turning bright red.

"Don't worry," she replied, "The doctors have already told me that the poison is no longer life threatening, and the rest of the effects will fade with time. And if not, the Future Foundation has a stockpile of Kimura's medicine to serve as a cure, she was very good at her job." Kirigiri blushed before continuing, "But I promise, if something happens, you'll be the first one I tell."

He let out a sigh of relief, then smiled. "Thank you. I wish I could thank Kimura for what she's done. And I'll have to give Tsumiki a hug the next time I see her." His smile dropped when he saw doubt across her features. "There's something you're not telling me…" he said, furrowing his brow.

Kirigiri sighed, then frowned. "It's nothing serious…" she said. When she saw the look of concern on his face, she continued, shifting her gaze away from him. "Alright. The doctors said that even though it won't affect my health, the remaining veins and discoloration won't fade away," she said as she rubbed the purple spot on her face, running her hand down her jaw and to her neck where the discoloration ended. "I suppose I have another scar for my collection…" she said bitterly.

Kirigiri gasped in surprise as Naegi placed his hand on her facial scar, gently turning her head to face him so she could see him smiling sweetly at her.

"Even with those scars, you're still beautiful," he said tenderly.

She returned his smile, chuckling lightly. Apparently, he was feeling bolder than usual, not that she minded. "Thank you, Makoto."

Makoto's newfound confidence faded at her use of his given name, and he blushed beet-red. "Y-you're welcome Kirigi-"

"You can call me Kyoko."

Makoto Naegi didn't think it was possible for his face to feel any hotter, but as usual the universe loved to prove him wrong. "A-are you sure?"

Kyoko smiled at him, and removed her left glove before placing her hand on top of his own, still holding her face. "Of course. After all we've been through, we're practically family," she said, leaning into his touch.

"Y-yeah… you're right… Kyoko."

With that, the two fell into a comfortable silence as their hands dropped and she rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes with a contented sigh. The pair leaned against each other, basking in each other's presence for a few minutes. Eventually, Kyoko felt Makoto fidget and opened her eyes to see him glancing at her with a troubled expression on his face.

"What's troubling you?" she asked.

Makoto swallowed before answering her question. "Can I ask you something, Kyoko?"

"Of course," she answered, sitting back up and lifting her head off his shoulder.

He hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "What you said back then…before the fourth time limit… did you-"

Kyoko interrupted him by taking his face in her hands and turning his head to make sure he was looking at her straight in the eyes. "I said those words knowing I might be about to die. I may not have said it then otherwise, but I promise you, I meant every word."

Naegi's eyes widened slightly, and he smiled at her, putting his hand on her own. "Thank you."

"You know… you're really amazing, Kyoko," he said a moment later, holding her hands in his lap.

"How so?" she asked, smiling.

"Well… I don't think I could've done what you did," he answered with a blush.

Kirigiri giggled. "You don't think you could've died for me?" Somehow, the thought amused her, he'd done it before and she was sure he'd do it again.

Naegi's eyes widened. "W-what?! No! That's not what I meant! I'd give my life for yours in a heartbeat!" he sputtered, blushing.

Kirigiri was a bit taken aback. Even though she knew it already (she wouldn't have hidden her Forbidden Action otherwise), it was odd to actually hear him say out loud that he'd die for her. Odd, and somewhat flattering. She blushed.

"I mean that I couldn't have kept quiet like you did. I probably would've been freaking out the whole time, you would've seen right through me," he muttered, looking away.

"Well, you are a bit of an open book," she said lightly.

Makoto turned to her and smiled. "And what you said before the time limit, I don't think I could've done something like that if I knew I was about to die. I probably would've handled things differently…" he said, trailing off as his blush intensified.

Kyoko raised an eyebrow. "And how exactly would you ha-"

She was cut off when Makoto suddenly pressed his lips to hers. Kyoko's eyes widened in shock, but she soon closed them and leaned forward to deepen the kiss, tightening her grip on his hand.

The two stayed like that for a while, only stopping when their lungs demanded air, which was far too soon as far as either of them were concerned.

"O-oh," Kyoko whispered, breathlessly, before smiling and brushing her hair behind her ear. "Yes I… I suppose that might have worked. I probably should have done that actually…" she trailed off, but her eyes widened in alarm when she saw Makoto's face.

He was staring at her in _awe_ , as if he couldn't believe that she was sitting right in front of him. Slowly, he reached up to place one hand on her cheek, cupping it. Tears started to form in his eyes.

"S-sorry, Kyoko. I just…I just needed to make sure…" he whispered. "I-I just needed to make _sure_."

"Make sure of what?" she asked curiously, worry written clearly on her face.

"Th-that this isn't just a dream. That this is real," he said, voice cracking as tears began to fall from his eyes. "I-I've been afraid that this was all just a dream, o-or another illusion. I thought I was going to wake up and go back to a world where you died, but…this is real…isn't it?"

Kyoko smiled at him. "Let me prove it to you," she said as she kissed him again. This time, their arms wrapped around each other, pulling them closer together, both of them held onto their lover as if they were clinging to life, desperately trying to bring themselves as close together as they possibly could. When they finally broke apart, Kyoko sighed contentedly as she rested her forehead against his.

"This is real. _I'm_ real. I'm here, Makoto, and like I told you, I will _always_ be by your side."

And the floodgates were opened.

"Kyoko!" he sobbed burying his head in her shoulder and holding onto her for dear life. "Kyoko, Kyoko, Kyoko…" he chanted in between sobs.

Ordinarily, this might have bothered her, but unfortunately, seeing his display of emotion had made her start crying too, so she settled for holding him close and saying his name. After a few minutes of sobbing into each other's arms, and chanting each other's names, the pair ran out of tears, and pulled apart to look at each other. Tears still ran down their faces, but they looked at each other with bright smiles and joyful eyes.

"I made you cry," said Makoto as he reached up to wipe away one of her tears. "Sorry."

"I made you cry, too," she answered as she wiped away his own tears. "We make quite the pair, don't we?"

They shared a laugh. When they had both calmed down, Makoto's mouth formed a determined line.

"Kyoko, I need you to promise me something," he said gravely.

"What is it?" she asked cautiously.

"Please," he pleaded, taking both of her hands in his own and bringing them to his lips. "Don't ever do something like that again. I-if you died because of me, a-again… I don't think I could take it."

She frowned. "I'm sorry, but I can't make that promise."

"Kyoko!" he exclaimed desperately.

"Makoto," she said, pulling away her un-gloved hand to place it on his cheek. "I'm sorry, but the truth of the matter is, I feel the same way as you. If something were to happen to you, and I could have prevented it… no, even if I couldn't have prevented it, I'm not sure I could live with myself." She gazed into his eyes, a determined set to her features, " _You_ are my hope."

Makoto's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to protest, but he closed it before softening his gaze and smiling. "Heh… we really are quite a pair, aren't we?" he chuckled. "But if I can't live without you, and you can't live without me, then I guess neither one of us is allowed to die for the other, right?"

Kyoko sighed. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

"So let's make a new promise then!"

She blinked. "What?"

"Let's promise to live on!" he said, smiling cheerfully as he extended his pinky finger.

She giggled, returning his smile as she wrapped her pinky around his own. "Alright then: we promise to live on," she said as they sealed their vow. "Together," she added in a whisper.

"Together," Makoto mirrored, grinning ear-to-ear.

With a happy sigh, the two of them leaned forward, resting their foreheads together and staring into each other's eyes.

"I love you," they both whispered. It was just a formality at this point; they had both expressed it many times by now through their words and actions. But still, it made their hearts soar to hear those words.

And so, from that moment on, their futures were forever intertwined.


	2. Together

**And here is the second chapter of Moving Forward! This took a lot longer to write than I was hoping it would, partially due to my own laziness, partially due to me working on my other fics, and partially due to being busy with school. It also came out a LOT longer than I thought it would, and overall I'm pretty happy with how it came out. This chapter is basically one big "what is going on in this fic" chapter, along with most of my ideas for what happened after DR3 ended. Don't expect any of the future chapters to be this long. Also, you may remember that the original plan for this story was 6 chapters of inter-connected one-shots, with the last 3 forming an arc. Well that has changed, since I am constantly thinking of new ideas for this pairing (seriously I am obsessed), so as of the time of writing the number of planned chapters for this fic is 9. Maybe 10 if I can find a way to develop a stray idea into an actual story. So look forward to that. And if you can't wait for another chapter, go read my Naegiri Week fics because those take place in the same setting, and can basically be considered chapters 3-9 of this fic (so I guess the total chapter count would go up to 16-17 if you count those).**

 **Once again a huge shout-out to my good friend The Apocryphal One for beta reading this chapter for me, go check out her writing, it's great. Also credit to 8fight for the cover art, which inspired one of the scenes in this chapter. Also! This is going up on Makoto Naegi's birthday! Happy Birthday to the precious Hope son, bless his soul.**

* * *

 **Together**

Kyoko Kirigiri walked through the doors into Hope's Peak Academy. As the vice-principal, she often came in early, but today was a special occasion when she arrived before anyone else had; she needed to be at a specific spot at a specific time. Stopping at one of the classrooms that would be empty during the early morning classes, she looked and verified that no one was there. Quickly and quietly, she strode over to the supply closet that she had made sure to empty at the end of the previous day, opened it up, and hid herself inside. Enveloped in darkness, she took a deep breath, and waited, keeping an ear out for any signs of movement in the classroom.

As a detective, it certainly wasn't the first time that she had placed herself in an uncomfortable hiding spot, so she was used to it, even if she technically wasn't a detective anymore. The truth of the matter was that no matter what her job was, be it branch head, teacher, or vice-principal, she'd always be a detective at heart. Although in some ways, she _had_ abandoned the role of a detective. Most significantly, she could no longer put her own life at risk in the name of finding the truth, even though that wasn't too much of a problem in her current peaceful life.

After all, her life was no longer hers to give up.

It had been four years since the end of the Final Killing Game, and since then many significant changes had occurred in her life.

For one: she and the rest of the surviving members of Hope's Peak's 78th Class had cut all ties with the Future Foundation. It hadn't been an easy decision, most of them had been uncomfortable bringing it up at first, but once they began to discuss it amongst themselves, they soon found that they agreed with each other. The truth of the matter was that their trust in the organization had been irrevocably shattered after the Final Killing Game. The bureaucratic red tape that had been plaguing them since they escaped from Hope's Peak had been a constant annoyance, the decision to put Makoto on trial after he saved the Remnants of Despair hadn't sat well with any of them, and the constant feeling of distrust amongst the branches had made them uneasy. But really, between half of the Foundation's leaders trying to kill them, Munakata's attempt to execute the 77th class even after they had been rehabilitated, and fact that the organization's head was the one responsible for setting up the Final Killing Game, none of them could really claim to believe in the Foundation anymore.

There was also the fact that the organization was employing and harboring a serial killer. A serial killer who exclusively killed other killers, mind you, but still. Kyoko very much wanted to be as far away from the Future Foundation as possible when _that_ inevitably blew up in their faces.

After the killing game, the remaining followers of Despair slowly but surely faded away (thanks in no small part to the help of the 77th class), and the world began to rebuild itself into something resembling its past self. With the reconstruction progressing smoothly and the battle against Despair mostly over, the Future Foundation had become less of an organization working for Hope and a better future, and more of a world government managing what they had rebuilt. As a result, they all felt that they no longer needed to work for the Future Foundation, and could make the world a better place in their own ways. Togami had expressed his desire to rebuild the Togami Conglomerate ever since they had left Hope's Peak, and with the world slowly but surely returning to normal, it seemed more and more possible. Fukawa had spent a lot of her spare time working on her own writing projects, and was already looking into finding a new publisher. Hagakure had never stopped talking about re-opening his fortune telling business, so nothing had changed there. Asahina had planned out different ways she could pick up her career as a swimmer, ranging from helping to restart the Olympics, to opening a swimming school. Kirigiri had, of course, considered opening a detective agency. Naegi remained suspiciously quiet on his own plans, but urged and supported all of his friends in their own plans. Even then, Kyoko could see the beginnings of a plan forming in his mind. He had told her before anyone else, and she supported him wholeheartedly, as did the rest of their friends once they found out. Which led to the next change in their lives.

Rebuilding Hope's Peak Academy was an arduous task, but it had definitely been worth it. It had taken them almost half a year of work, but once the school was re-opened, it soon flourished. Of course, none of it would have been possible without the help of the head of the Togami family.

Once industry and the economy in the world had returned to a point where the stock market was operating again, Byakuya had taken his savings that he had built up from working at the Future Foundation, poured them all into the stock exchange and, in a week, had somehow managed to _quadruple_ his investment. When asked how he was able to do that, he only smirked and said "I am Byakuya Togami."

Before too long, the Togami Conglomerate had been revived. It was still a shadow of its former self, but it was well-off enough that, with Togami's help, none of the members of the 78th Class needed to rely on the Future Foundation to subsist. Most of the funding and rebuilding efforts for the academy had come from the newly rebuilt conglomerate, in a somewhat uncharacteristic act of charity on Byakuya's part. Meanwhile, the rest of their friends joined them as teachers.

Of course, they had also needed to go through the Future Foundation in order to rebuild the school. As much as they would've liked to be independent, the Future Foundation still held a lot of power, and there was no way that such a controversial decision as rebuilding Hope's Peak would go through without their help. When Makoto Naegi announced his plan to not only rebuild the school which, in the eyes of many, had led to the Tragedy, but also to abolish the Talent system and open it to normal students, it had, to put it lightly, caused a stir in the Foundation. For a while it seemed like his plan was doomed to fail before it could even begin, but it was saved thanks to the timely intervention of an unlikely ally: the new chairman of the Future Foundation, Kyosuke Munakata.

No one knew where he had disappeared to after the Final Killing Game, but shortly after the last of the followers of Despair had vanished, he returned to the Future Foundation with little fanfare, merely asking for a job. The chairman at the time was a former subordinate of his who was clearly out of his depth when it came to leading the entire Future Foundation, so as soon as Munakata had returned, he was offered the position of Chairman.

Whatever it was that he had been doing in the time between the Final Killing Game and his return, it was clear that, along with the events of the killing game, it had changed him for the better. His dogmatic attitude had been replaced by a more understanding and careful style of leading, and he himself had said that his actions as chairman were done with the intent of not repeating the mistakes of the past. When most of the Future Foundation members opposed Naegi's plan to rebuild Hope's Peak, he had given him his full support. On one condition: Hope's Peak must still accept and search for students with Talent, and foster them to make sure that no Talent would ever bring the world to ruin again. Although Naegi had been against the idea, citing that the concept of Talent that the old Hope's Peak had promoted had been the root of the problem to begin with, and the two had discussed it at length, he eventually accepted his terms. And so, with the support of both the Future Foundation and the Togami Conglomerate, Hope's Peak Academy was rebuilt, with Makoto Naegi as the headmaster and Kyoko Kirigiri as the vice-principal.

She could still clearly remember their last official meeting with the Chairman as members of the Future Foundation.

* * *

Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri stood side-by-side in Chairman Munakata's office. The chairman eyed them with an unreadable expression from across his desk, before sighing and leaning forward in his seat.

"Very well. Everything has been processed: with funding from the Togami Conglomerate and the Future Foundation, as well as supervision from our 1st, 2nd and 5th branches, the rebuilding of Hope's Peak Academy will begin," he said, leafing through a stack of paperwork on his desk.

"Alright. Thank you, Chairman Munakata," Makoto said, bowing politely. Kyoko merely kept quiet.

Munakata nodded, then stayed quiet for a second before sighing. "I suppose I should ask. Are you sure about cutting ties with the Future Foundation? You could do a lot of good working with us."

Makoto shifted awkwardly for a second before responding. "We appreciate the offer, we really do, but it's just...well, we want to do this on our own terms."

"You can do that without leaving. You two would still be in charge of the academy, and we'd only step in when necessary. I'm not asking you to work for me, I'm simply suggesting a mutually beneficial partnership," he said before getting out of his seat and walking towards a window to look outside. "Look, I understand that we've come into conflict in the past, and you have reason to distrust me. I'll be the first to admit that the Future Foundation has made many mistakes," he paused and turned around to face them, "that _I_ have made many mistakes. But this offer is genuine. I'm trying to help both of us here, I'm not trying to manipulate you."

Makoto brought up his hands in a placating gesture. "W-we understand that! And we believe you, really! I-it's just…"

As Makoto trailed off in his explanation, Kyoko spoke up for the first time since the meeting had begun. "You say that now, but how can we be sure that won't change tomorrow? Who's to say that you won't one day change your views and use us to do your dirty work? Or that the next chairman won't abuse his position? Or that one of the other branch heads won't try to use their influence to coerce us?" she said matter-of-factly, cold and to-the-point as always. "The truth of the matter is that with the war between Hope and Despair all but won, and the world already on its way to being restored, the Future Foundation is really just a government, and like all governments, it is vulnerable to corruption. Politics and scheming is what helped bring down the last Hope's Peak, and we want nothing to do with that."

Kyoko brushed a strand of her hair away before speaking again. "If I may be so bold, I'm surprised you're making such an effort at keeping us here. I thought you'd be happy for the chance to be rid of us."

Makoto cringed and Munakata's eye narrowed. Although the two of them had made an effort to mend bridges, Kyoko was apparently the type to hold grudges, and she hadn't made a secret of her distaste for the new chairman.

Munakata sat back down and rested his chin one fist while tapping his fingers on his desk irritably. "Look, it's not like I _want_ to kick you out. To be blunt: what you do is none of my business, and I don't particularly care." He sighed in irritation. " _However_ , I'm sure you understand that having the entire surviving 78th Class, especially one of our branch heads and the Ultimate Hope, leaving us doesn't reflect well on the Future Foundation, and it puts me in a rather difficult position. Furthermore, it means we won't be able to officially help you if things go wrong. In fact, if necessary, we'll have to bring you in if this project ends poorly. The name of Hope's Peak is a symbol of Hope to many, but its reputation has been undeniably stained. If anything goes even _slightly_ wrong, the public will be quick to blame you, and since we're also sponsoring you, the Future Foundation will be blamed as well."

"We understand that, and we're sorry," Makoto said sympathetically. "But, you said it yourself, I have to carry the burden of Hope. It's my responsibility to make this world a better place, and if I'm going to do that, I need to do it my way."

Munakata sighed again, closing his eye for a moment in consideration, and then nodding. "Then I suppose I will have to carry the burden of the future… and the past."

After a few seconds of silence, Munakata opened his eye and pulled a sheet of paper from the stack on his desk. "Very well, let's begin. As of now, you and the rest of the 78th Class are no longer under the employ of the Future Foundation. You have until the end of the week to gather your belongings, finish any duties you have left, and prepare to leave. You will be evicted from your foundation-provided living quarters, and any belongings issued to you by us will be reclaimed. You will receive your last paycheck when you leave, and then the reconstruction of Hope's Peak Academy will begin. Is everything clear?"

Makoto and Kyoko both nodded. "Yes, Mr. Chairman."

Munakata closed his eye pensively for a moment. "Then we're done here. Makoto Naegi, Kyoko Kirigiri: goodbye, and good luck."

"Thank you, Munakata, and likewise," said Makoto with a smile. As he turned around to leave, he noticed that Kyoko wasn't following him.

"You go on ahead," she said, smiling at him "I need to discuss something in private with the chairman."

Makoto hesitated for a moment, but nodded and stepped outside, telling Kyoko he'd wait for her.

Once they were alone, Munakata raised a curious eyebrow at her. "You need to speak with me?"

Kyoko nodded, her face betraying no emotion. "I'm sure you're already aware that I blame you for much of what happened on that island."

"And I'm sure _you're_ aware that I've accepted responsibility for my mistakes. And I've tried to make amends. Where are you going with this?" he responded calmly.

"My point," she said, "Is that while I was... _away_ , there were many events that I could not participate in, and if I had the chance, I would have intervened at many points. I was informed of what happened by my friends, and I was told of the things you did, and the things you _said_."

Munakata sighed. His expression was an unreadable frown, keeping himself carefully stoic. "Yes, I suppose we'd better address the elephant in the room. I'm surprised it took this long, to be honest."

Kirigiri stepped forward, placing both hands on his desk and leaning forward to look him in the eye. "So, I'm only going to say this once. If you _ever_ hurt Makoto Naegi again, physically or otherwise, you will have _me_ to answer to. Have I made myself clear?"

Munakata's eye narrowed dangerously, but besides that, nothing about his expression or body language changed. "Is that a threat, Kirigiri?"

Kyoko turned around and walked away, looking back at him over her shoulder one last time as she placed her hand on the door. "For _both_ our sakes, let's hope we never have to find out."

* * *

Fortunately, they never needed to answer that question, as that had been the last time the two of them had spoken. And the Future Foundation had not caused them any trouble, they had even been a large help in finding students and setting up the school. Between the Ultimate Hope, the 78th Class, the Togami Conglomerate, and the Future Foundation, the new Hope's Peak had managed to flourish.

Rather than being a school made to research and cultivate Talent, the new Hope's Peak was run with the intention of living up to the school's name and given goal: to create Hope for the world. Accepting students from all walks of life and helping them to prepare for the future in the new world, the new Hope's Peak quickly shed the poor reputation of its former self, and became a shining beacon of hope. Students who showed great promise, students who were recognized as having an Ultimate Talent, and students who had been affected by the Tragedy and had nowhere else to go were the main focus, but even a completely average student who took the time to fill out an application could be accepted if they were deemed to meet the school's standards.

Kyoko Kirigiri didn't know what the former headmaster would think about the new Hope's Peak, but she could safely say that she was proud to be a part of it, and working as its vice-principal. As the vice-principal, Kyoko had a rather busy work life, she was essentially Headmaster Naegi's right-hand. She helped him with the day-to-day managing of the school, helped him organize the faculty and students, signed lots and lots of paperwork, provided advice, and occasionally acted as a Talent scout, like the late Koichi Kizakura. It was a busy job, but it was an important one, and Kyoko would trust no one else with it, not that she'd give it up even if she could, she was rather fond of her job.

Of all the changes to her life, however, the most important one as far as she was concerned, was her relationship with Makoto Naegi. The two of them had danced around the issue of their feelings for each other for a long time, for various reasons. But after coming so close to losing each other forever, and with peace finally in sight, they both stopped pretending and confessed their love to each other. From there they entered a happy and committed relationship. In truth, as much as things changed, a lot of things stayed the same. They still relied on each other, they still trusted each other, and they still worked together, helping each other no matter what. The biggest change was that they had started living together, and that they were more openly affectionate with each other, Makoto in particular. Less stolen glances, reassuring smiles, and brushing hands, and more kisses, cuddles, and declarations of love. Most importantly, they were happy together.

Now if only he would just hurry up and-

Kyoko heard a noise outside the closet as someone else entered the room. She heard the tell-tale click of a locked door, and a conversation between two boys.

"Have you got the money?" one asked.

"Y-yeah. It's right here, have you got the stuff?"

"Of course, when have I ever failed you? One bag of sweet snow to keep you cool during the harsh summer days."

"Do you always have to make up fancy names? Just call it coke like everyone else…"

At that point, Kirigiri had heard enough. She burst out of the closet to glare at the two students, who whirled around to look at her in shock. One of them turned around and began to run, but was stopped cold by the vice-principal's sharp reprimand.

"Before you try to leave," she said calmly, "consider the following. First, you locked the door, so you'd have to unlock it before trying to leave. Second, your punishment will be more lenient if you cooperate. And most importantly-" her eyes narrowed dangerously- "do you really think you can outrun me?"

The students both froze, looked at each other as if asking for advice, and then bowed their heads in shame. Kirigiri walked over to them and held out her hand.

"Hand it over," she said sternly, her tone leaving no room for argument.

The dealer handed over the bag of drugs, dropping it in her hand without a word. The other boy tried to hand over his money, but she waved him away and shook her head, so he put it back in his pocket.

"Both of you, come with me. We're going to discuss this in my office," she said as she escorted them out of the room.

Once they had arrived at the headmaster's office, Kyoko turned to their secretary and asked her to hold any calls for her or the headmaster, and to tell any students who needed them to wait until they were done with their work. The young lady nodded and returned to her work while Kyoko entered the office, where Headmaster Naegi was sitting at his desk. Seeing the vice-principal enter with two students in tow, he nodded and stood up to open the door to her office, the four of them entered and Naegi closed and locked the door behind him, before taking a seat at Kirigiri's desk, while she stood beside him.

"Alright," he said calmly to the two students who were standing in front of him, "please take a seat, we have a lot to talk about."

The two students shifted nervously before sitting down on the two chairs in front of the desk, making sure to look anywhere except the two teachers in front of them.

"So, first of all, do you know why you're here?" he asked gently.

The boys took a moment to answer, until the one who was selling drugs, a second-year by the name of Eiji Iwasa, spoke up. "Because we got caught with drugs, just skip the lecture, expel us, and ship us off to prison already, will ya?"

Naegi was about to respond when Kirigiri slammed her hand on the table causing the two students to jump. "Keep talking like that and you'll get your wish," she said sternly.

While Iwasa gulped in fear, the first-year he was selling drugs to, Kenji Hirose, seemed on the verge of tears, and punched him in the arm angrily. "Will you shut up?! Stop making this worse than it already is, you idiot!"

"Hey now, everyone calm down," Naegi said, trying to diffuse the situation. "No one's getting expelled _or_ imprisoned, at least not yet. We just have some questions for you before we decide what to do."

Once the two students had calmed down, he turned to Kirigiri and nodded at her. "Alright, Vice-Principal Kirigiri, would you like to explain the situation?"

She nodded. "For the past few weeks we've heard rumors of a drug trade in and around Hope's Peak Academy, and naturally we've been investigating. You two have been suspects in the matter for a while, as well as a number of other individuals, both students and outsiders, but this is the first time we've come across conclusive evidence," she explained. "As I'm sure you know, our school's reputation means a lot, so something like this can't be allowed to go unchecked. We expect your full cooperation, especially if you want us to be lenient with your punishment," she finished, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

"We would prefer not to have to go to any unnecessary lengths," Naegi said, leaning forward while smiling amicably. "But we need you two to help us help you."

"P-please! I can't be go to prison! I-I _need_ this school, I'll tell you anything you want!" Hirose yelled, throwing himself onto the desk and putting his hands together pleadingly.

Naegi's composure went out the window almost instantly, and even the unflappable Vice-Principal Kirigiri seemed shocked for a moment. Putting his hand over the student's, he tried smiling calmly at him to reassure him, but his grin seemed more panicked than anything.

"H-hey now! No one's getting expelled just yet, we need to ask you some questions before we decide on your punishment, so just cooperate and everything will be okay. Alright?"

Hirose nodded nervously before sitting back in his chair, shaking.

Kirigiri looked down at Iwasa, who seemed as disturbed by this display as the rest of them. "Of course, that goes for you, too. Since you're the one who was selling the drugs in the first place, we'll expect you to answer our questions."

Iwasa looked away, unwilling to make eye-contact, but nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I got it."

Naegi cleared his throat. "Alright, so let's begin with the obvious question. Iwasa, where did you get your drugs from, and why were you selling them?"

Iwasa shifted uncomfortably for a few moments, he briefly considered resistance, but he soon realized that he was screwed either way and decided to try to cooperate and hope for the best. "Th-there's these guys… they hang out near my apartment complex, where my family lives. They tried to sell me some a bunch of times but I kept saying no. One day they asked me if I wanted a cut of the profits a-and I _really_ needed the money so…" he trailed off.

Naegi sighed. "So you agreed to be their middleman for dealing at Hope's Peak?"

Iwasa nodded, hanging his head.

"And besides Hirose here, how many students have you sold drugs to here at school?" Kirigiri asked sternly.

"J-just him. I haven't gotten any other customers yet, and he buys most of my stock anyway so…"

At this, Kirigiri turned her glare to Hirose, who shrunk back and gulped.

"And you, how long have you been taking illegal drugs, and have you been buying them from anyone else?"

Hirose looked like he wanted to cry. "N-no. I just buy them from him. I-I don't know where else to get them…"

"Did you share your drugs with anyone?"

"N-no...I just use them for myself…"

Kirigiri and Naegi shared a glance, then she nodded at him.

Naegi sighed in relief. "Well if you're telling the truth, then that certainly makes things easier. We can stop this before it becomes a major problem," he said happily. "You two _are_ telling the truth right?" he asked with a far more serious tone.

Both students nodded vigorously.

"Excellent!" Naegi said, grinning brightly.

Kirigiri smirked for a moment, and had to hold back a chuckle, but soon returned to her stoic visage. "We're not done here, of course. Eiji Iwasa," she said as she pulled out a pen and a sheet of paper, sliding them over the desk to him, "I want you to write down the names of everyone you know involved in this drug trade."

Iwasa stiffened. "R-right." He picked up the pen and started scribbling down all the names he could think of. Once he was done, he set down the pen and slid over the sheet of paper.

Kirigiri picked it up, scanned over the list of names, then folded it up and placed the paper in her pocket.

"S-so what are you going to do?" Iwasa asked.

" _We're_ not going to do anything," Kirigiri replied. "After handing these names over to the Future Foundation, they'll sort out the problem. Once it's outside of our school, it's no longer our problem to solve."

Hirose spoke up, shifting uncomfortably. "S-so, what's gonna happen to us?"

Naegi sat forward. "Well, since I'm the headmaster, you two are technically my responsibility, which means that I have quite a bit of leeway when it comes to deciding what to do with you."

"And _I_ have quite a bit of leeway when it comes to helping him decide," Kyoko interjected, causing him to scratch his cheek with a small grin. "So I suggest you think very carefully about your answers to our questions."

"H-hold on a sec!" Iwasa spoke up. "I thought we already answered your questions!"

"Those were the questions we were required to ask as part of our jobs," Kyoko responded, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "These questions come from us as your teachers."

Clearing his throat, Naegi leaned forward and clasped his hands together. "Why would you do this? You two are lucky enough to be students here. Not everyone get's a chance like this, you know. And _you_ , Hirose, you're living in the campus dorms, why would you risk everything over something like this?"

He looked at both of the students, neither of them answered. Iwasa grumbled under his breath while Hirose looked like he was about to cry. Naegi sighed.

"I've read the reports from your teachers, you know," he said. "You're both bright young men. You have the potential to do great things, and I don't believe either of you are dumb enough to just throw it all away for no good reason. So-"

He was cut off by an outburst from Iwasa. "Look! You don't know anything about us so just skip the speech okay?!"

Naegi was taken aback for a moment, but he soon composed himself and smiled gently at them once again. "Okay. Then help me. Tell me about yourselves. I want to help you two, but I can't do that if you won't let me," he said softly.

"You wouldn't understand…"

Kirigiri narrowed her eyes. "Try us."

To the surprise of everyone in the room, Hirose was the one who spoke up first.

"I...I can still...see them…" he muttered under his breath, sniffling.

"What do you mean?" asked Naegi, his voice tinged with concern.

"I can still see my family sometimes… like they were before...before-" he let out a choked sob and buried his face in his hands.

"B-back when the riots were breaking o-out, we h-hid in our home and tried to j-just wait it out. W-we thought we could just stay hidden-but it didn't w-work!" he explained in between sobs. "They b-broke into our house and-and then they killed them all! All I could do was watch!"

While all of them seemed to be in shock, Naegi was clearly the most shaken out of all of them: his hands shook, his eyes widened and his mouth hung wide open. Kirigiri noticed this and reached her hand out towards him, but pulled back when he recomposed himself.

"I-I just want to forget…the drugs help," he finished, sniffling.

Makoto reached out to place a hand gently atop his student's. "Hirose, I understand how you feel, I really do. But forgetting about your family isn't the right choice."

Hirose looked up at him in shock as the headmaster continued to speak. "Your family was precious to you, right? If they were, then I can understand mourning their loss, _but_ ," he said firmly, "forgetting them is not the right thing to do! Are you telling me that you're going to throw away all of the happy memories too?"

Kenji Hirose was at a loss for words, and Eiji Iwasa sat next to him in stunned silence as well. Beside the headmaster, Vice-Principal Kirigiri allowed herself a calm little smile.

"Hirose, I know that it hurts to lose someone you care about. I've lost people too, people who were precious to me…" as Naegi paused to gather himself, Kirigiri placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, her touch making him feel at ease. "I know it can be tempting to just forget all about them, but if you do that, then all the good times you shared will be gone too. You won't gain anything by losing yourself to drugs, and your family will have died for nothing. If you truly loved them, then you need to learn to live with their loss, and carry it with you." He finished his short speech with an encouraging smile.

Hirose's eyes widened. "B-but…how? I can barely even get through a day without remembering them...the way they looked when they were killed right in front of me," he let out a sob. "While I hid like a coward!"

"I never said it would be easy. But it's possible, you just need some help. Here," Naegi said as he pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote down some phone numbers. "There are people here who you can talk to. They can help you, and if that doesn't work, your classmates, your friends, and your teachers are all here for you."

The boy looked at the paper with shaky hands and then glanced at the headmaster uncertainly, who offered him a reassuring smile in return.

"It'll help, trust me."

He nodded his head and stared down at the paper before hanging his head, meekly thanking the headmaster. With that done, Kirigiri turned to address Iwasa.

"And? What reasons do you have for your actions?" she asked stoically.

Iwasa looked away. "If you're expecting some sob story from me you can forget it."

She narrowed her eyes. "If you don't want to explain yourself we can just skip to your punishment…"

He winced, and then nodded his head meekly. "L-look...I just…I just needed the money okay? It's nothing complicated or deep…"

"But _why_ did you need the money?" Naegi asked. "What could possibly so important that you'd risk everything selling drugs for these people?"

Iwasa hung his head and muttered something underneath his breath.

Naegi leaned forward in confusion to hear him better. "Um, sorry, could you repeat that?"

"They need to eat…" he said quietly.

Naegi opened his mouth to speak again, when his eyes widened in realization. His face formed a grim line and his eyes narrowed.

"Iwasa, is your family making you sell drugs so you can afford food?" he asked seriously.

"No!" snapped the boy, causing everyone else to recoil. "Th-they don't know anything about this, okay?! S-so don't blame it on them…"

Naegi sighed in relief and leaned forward. "Okay, so why don't you explain to us what's going on?"

Iwasa gulped, and hesitated for a moment, but a quiet nod from the headmaster and a reassuring smile urged him to speak up. "L-look, Hope's Peak feeds me, and I'm grateful for that, but just because I'm eating doesn't mean the rest of my family is. S-so I needed to find a way to make money, and I couldn't find a job so...when they offered me a cut of the profits I...said yes. My family just thinks I found a part time job, okay? So… please don't tell them."

Kirigiri sighed, rubbing her temples with one hand. "Look, I know that your family is important to you, and it's very selfless of you to work to feed your family but...this isn't the way to do it. Did you really think you'd never be caught?" she asked. "You had to know that eventually someone would find out and you'd have to stop, not to mention suffer the consequences. What were you planning to do when that happened?"

"I-it wasn't supposed to be a permanent thing. I...I was just doing it until my mom or dad could find a job… get back on their feet," he answered. "After things went back to...normal, some people managed to just go back to their lives, but a salary worker like my dad couldn't just walk up to his old office building and ask for his job back. I doubt that building's even still standing."

"There are lots of programs in place to provide relief for the needy," Naegi interjected. "Those programs are set up by the Future Foundation to help people get back on their feet so that things like these don't happen. Why hasn't your family just applied for one of those? I know that the Foundation has a lot of people to provide for, but they have policies in place to make sure everyone gets _something_ to help them."

Iwasa looked away nervously. "M-my family is proud, okay? We don't like to take handouts. If we need or want something we earn it ourselves, that's just the way we are."

"So let me see if I understand you correctly," said Kirigiri, as she began to speak, Naegi pulled out another sheet of paper and began writing. "You and your family are willing to throw away your lives, your chance at a bright future in this academy, your second chance, risk incarceration for you, your family, and others, jeopardize the reputation of this academy, and by extension, the lives of all the students and faculty here. You and your family are willing to do all this…" she quirked an eyebrow, "...because of your family pride?"

Iwasa hung his head in shame, which Kirigiri took as the only response she needed. She turned to Naegi. "Headmaster, would you please give him the numbers?"

"Already done," he responded as he offered Iwasa a sheet of paper with a set of phone numbers on it. "Those numbers will get you and your family in touch with people who can help you, will you promise to give them a call?"

Iwasa took the sheet of paper and stared at it with shaking hands. "I...I don't...Can you promise that you won't tell my parents?"

Naegi looked at Kirigiri, her neutral expression betrayed no emotion, but he was still able to read her and understand her answer just by the slight downward curve of her lips and the slight narrow of her eyes.

"I'm afraid that wouldn't be responsible of me as a teacher," he replied. "Your family needs to understand that they _need_ to accept help, and that not doing so is causing problems." Iwasa opened his mouth to speak but Naegi cut him with a raised hand. "However, if you can convince your family to accept aid without having to tell them about it, then I won't tell them. Regardless, I still believe that they should know what you've been doing, and why you've been doing it," he said sternly.

Iwasa nodded nervously and put the paper in his pocket, mumbling a "thank you" to the headmaster.

"Well, now that that's all done," Naegi said with a bright smile. "I think it's time to discuss your punishments."

The two students both looked up with looks of panicked fear but Naegi offered a reassuring smile in return.

"Don't worry, you're not going to be expelled. Obviously we can't just let this slide, but I think that after what you've told us today, I can be a bit lenient with you. Wouldn't you agree, vice-principal?" he said as he turned to look up at Kirigiri.

Vice-Principal Kirigiri brushed her hair behind her ear and sighed. "Well, normally the punishment for such a crime would be immediate expulsion and perhaps incarceration." The two students felt a jolt of fear run up their spine. Kirigiri smirked lightly and the two of them weren't sure to take it as a sign of relief or as further proof that they were doomed. "But I suppose that since you're the headmaster it's your call."

The two students let out a sigh of relief as the headmaster chuckled. "Well then, I think as headmaster, I'll limit your punishment to...A hundred hours of community service. How's that sound?"

The two students looked at each other, then at the headmaster, then back to each other, then at the vice-principal, back to each other, and then at the headmaster one last time.

"Is...is that it?" Hirose asked nervously.

"Hmmm, I could raise it for you if you really want."

Both students shook their heads vigorously. "No no! It's fine! We're grateful, thank you sir!"

Naegi laughed, and even Kirigiri let out a small chuckle. "Well, after everything you've told us," said the headmaster. "I don't think it would be very fair of me to punish you too severely. It's clear that you're both good kids who were just caught in a bad situation. If you both promise to use the resources I've given you in order to improve, then I think I can let you off with a slap on the wrist this time around. Besides, this list of names will help us stop more people from being victimized, so I figure we owe you something for your help."

"Assuming of course," Kirigiri interjected. "That we can trust you to keep up your end of the bargain, and that this list is trustworthy."

"We _can_ trust you, right?" Naegi asked with a friendly smile, although the implicit threat was not lost on the students.

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Good!" Naegi said cheerfully as he got up from his seat and walked over to the door, followed by Kirigiri and the two students.

"Well then," he said as he opened the door for both students to step out of the office. "I think we're done here. Good luck boys, and I hope you learned something from this."

As both boys left the room, the two of them turned around to address the headmaster and vice-principal.

"Th-thank you for your help, sir, ma'am," Hirose said shakily.

"Y-yeah, really, you… you treated us better than we deserved. Y-you too, ma'am." the other added bashfully, rubbing his neck.

Naegi seemed surprised for a moment, and then scratched his cheek while offering them a small grin. "Um, well, you're very welcome. I'm glad I could help you boys."

"Now get going before you're both late for class," said Kirigiri, smiling lightly.

The two students nodded, thanked them again, and then rushed off to class, leaving Makoto to shut the door and turn to hug Kyoko.

"Great job, Kyoko," he said with a sigh of relief. "I think that went pretty well, don't you?"

She hummed in agreement and wrapped her arms around him, taking comfort in his presence.

Makoto blinked and pulled back to look at her face, frowning. "You… do you think I wasn't tough enough on them?"

Kyoko sighed and pulled away hesitantly, walking to her desk. She sometimes missed the days when she could read him like a book but could hide her own thoughts from him. She wasn't really sure when, but at some point in their relationship he had learned how to read her emotions just from the miniscule changes in her expressions, with such accuracy that even if she wanted to hide her thoughts from him she rarely could. An ironic but not unwelcome twist.

"If I were in your position, I might not have been as lenient as you were," she said softly, crossing her arms and leaning on her desk. Makoto opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. "However, I know that this is the kind of person you are, and I wouldn't dream of changing that," she said with a bright smile. "That's just part of what makes you the man I fell in love with."

Makoto grinned from ear-to-ear and wrapped Kyoko up in a bear hug, causing her to giggle as he kissed her repeatedly on the cheek before moving to her lips. When they broke apart, he chuckled. He couldn't stop smiling if he tried, not that he'd ever want to. "Thanks for understanding, Kyoko."

"Don't thank _me_ , after all, _you're_ the one who's going to have to explain this," she said wryly. "I can already see the headlines: 'Hope's Peak Headmaster Allows Drug Dealers to Run Rampant'."

Makoto chuckled as he put an arm around her shoulder and raised one arm. "I think the headlines will be more like: 'Ace Detective Kyoko Kirigiri Brings Down Drug Ring Targeting Hope's Peak', after all, you got the list of names didn't you?"

"I did, yes. But," she said, frowning slightly, "this assumes that the information we got from them is trustworthy."

Makoto pursed his lips, thinking for a moment. "You don't think they were lying, do you?"

"Of course not," she answered. "If I had believed that I wouldn't have let them leave this room. But we do have to account for every possibility."

He nodded, becoming more serious. "Right. If we find that any of the information they gave us is false, or that they don't keep up their end of the deal and contact those numbers I gave them, I'll call them back in. But for now, I think we can believe in them."

"Then that should be enough for now," she said with a smile. "Although you'll probably have to explain to the chairman what happened. He'll probably want a report from you."

Makoto sighed as he scratched the back of his head nervously. "Ha-ha... yeah… I'm not looking forward to that phone call."

Kyoko narrowed her eyes dangerously. "If he gives you any trouble, just let me talk to him."

Makoto waved his hands in panic as he tried to reassure his girlfriend. "No no! It's fine, I'm sure he'll understand!" Even after all the work they'd done together and the significant improvement in his attitude, Kyoko _still_ wasn't fond of Munakata, and made no secret of it. Which meant that it was up to Makoto to keep her from starting a fight. "Besides, I can handle myself, you know."

She giggled as she brushed a strand of her behind her ear. "Oh, I know you can. I just like to stand up for you. Being your girlfriend comes with certain responsibilities, as I'm sure you understand."

He let out a light chuckle. "Thanks. Ah! By the way, sorry for making you play bad cop again," he said sheepishly.

Kyoko merely chuckled as she walked away from her desk and towards the wall. "It's fine, I'm used to it by now. Besides, you couldn't be a bad cop to save your life," she teased.

"I can be bad!" he whined.

She quirked an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

As soon as she finished speaking she found herself trapped by Makoto placing his arms on the wall on either side of her, bringing his face close to hers.

She smirked. "Oh my, is this your hidden 'bad' side, Makoto?"

He responded by kissing her, and chuckling. "I don't know, I'd say having an illicit affair with my vice-principal is pretty 'bad' wouldn't you say?"

She giggled before returning the kiss. "Oh? Is that what this is? We'd better be careful then, wouldn't want rumors to start spreading."

"You know, my girlfriend's actually a genius detective, so if we don't lay low she'll probably find out about us," he said in between kisses.

"Oh my, you really are a risk-taker, aren't you?" she said. She gasped as her boyfriend's kisses shifted from her lips to her neck, lingering on her jawline for a moment to kiss the spot where her scar was covered up by make-up.

With a grunt, Kyoko grabbed onto Makoto and turned him around, reversing their positions so that she was pressing him against a wall and kissing his neck. "You know, I noticed that my schedule was surprisingly empty today, aside from this matter," she said as she began to undo his tie, unaware of the way his eyes widened in realization. "I wonder, was that _your_ doing, headmaster? Could it be that you planned for something like this to happen?"

Makoto interrupted her by abruptly pushing her away just as she was about to remove his tie, leaving her to blink in bewilderment. "S-sorry," he said, blushing heavily. "But do you think you could meet me out by our spot after lunch today?"

She blinked in confusion. After a few moments of hesitation, she regained her composure and spoke again. "Very well, then. I'll meet you out there after lunch. The usual place?"

"Y-yeah, right by the flower fields. I've actually got some work to do today, so I want to go get it done as soon as possible so that there aren't any interruptions later," he explained smiling sheepishly as he tried to fix his tie.

Kyoko sighed, but smiled as she moved to help him with his tie. "Here, let me help you. I was the one who undid it, after all."

He craned his neck upwards to give her better access as he thanked her.

"You know, it's rather rude of you to get me in the mood like that and then not let me finish," she teased.

Makoto's entire face turned redder than a tomato. "A-ah! S-sorry about that…"

She giggled. "It's fine, I'm sure you'll make it up to me later."

He chuckled sheepishly. "Y-yeah…"

She shook her head slightly, smiling and stepping away as she finished fixing his tie. "There, all done. Now I'll let you get back to your work, headmaster."

"Thanks Kyoko. Oh, by the way, don't eat too much, I'm setting up a picnic for us!" he said, smiling brightly as he opened the door to his office and stepped out.

"Makoto," she called out to him, stopping him in his tracks once he was halfway out the door. He turned to look at her.

"I love you."

He smiled. "I love you too, Kyoko."

* * *

At the faculty lounge, Kyoko sat down at a table with an apple and a glass of water, soon joined by her good friend Aoi Asahina.

"Kyoko! Don't tell me that's all you're eating today!" she scolded as she set down her tray and sat down next to her.

Kyoko smirked in response as she took a sip of water. "Don't worry, Makoto and I are having a picnic later, so I don't want to spoil my appetite."

"Awwwwwww! That's so cute!" she said as she opened her protein shake and took a sip.

Kyoko chuckled. Asahina, like most of their friends, had noticed her and Makoto's feelings for each other a long time ago, and she had been very... _eager_ to see them finally get together. Needless to say, she had been overjoyed when the two of them made their relationship public knowledge.

"So," Asahina said as she leaned in, smirking deviously. "How's your sex life?"

Kyoko replied without missing a beat. "Just fine, thanks. How's yours?"

"Awwww," whined Asahina as she slumped down on the table. "You're no fun anymore. I remember when you and Makoto started going out, you'd get all embarrassed whenever I said anything and start blushing. It was adorable! And it's non-existent, by the way. Thanks for asking."

Kyoko smiled at that. It was true that during the early days of their relationship, she was particularly vulnerable to teasing, prone to blushing madly at even the slightest comment about her relationship with Makoto, something which her friends (Asahina in particular) took great advantage of. Fortunately, after a while she had gotten used to it, and by now the teasing no longer had any effect on her. It still worked flawlessly on Makoto, however.

"Well, after four years of being in a healthy, loving, relationship I see no reason to be embarrassed," she replied, smirking as she took a sip of water and bit down on her apple.

Asahina smiled at her. "Awwww, you two are so cute together! I'm jealous Kyoko, you and Makoto are like the perfect couple!"

She giggled. "Please, we're hardly perfect."

"Oh yeah?" Asahina said. "Name one problem you two have."

Kyoko paused to think. Maybe it was because she was just so happy, but she had trouble thinking of an answer to that. Sure there were small quirks of his which she didn't like very much, and he sometimes made mistakes, but the same was true for her, and it honestly felt like nitpicking to point that out as "problems". Really, the only thing she could think of that qualified as a "problem" was that after four years of being together...he still hadn't proposed.

"Well...I can't really think of any," she lied.

"See! I told you! You two are perfect and adorable."

It wasn't like she _needed_ to lie, Asahina would probably have dismissed any problem she brought up as trivial and said that they were perfect anyway, so it hardly would've made a difference. She just didn't want to talk about _that_ specific problem because, truth be told, it made her feel a bit silly.

It certainly wasn't as if they _needed_ to be married. She wasn't the type of woman who placed great value on the importance of marriage, or who felt that he'd leave her if they didn't get married quickly (the very idea was laughable). To be honest, they were practically married already. They lived together, they were deeply in love with each other, they ate together, they worked together, they slept together, they had been intimate together more times than she could count, and generally spent as much time together as two people could without getting sick of each other (and then some), not to mention the fact that they had promised to live on together for each other's sakes, which might as well have been a marriage vow. The truth was, they were already married in all but name. At this point, marriage was essentially a formality, and being upset that her boyfriend hadn't proposed yet was silly.

But still, it irked her.

She didn't have any reason to be worried, of course. Kyoko was already well aware that had Makoto was planning on proposing at some point. He'd already dropped a couple of not-so-subtle hints in the past few months. The two of them had even decided on how they would handle the matter of their family names upon marriage. Makoto knew how important Kyoko's family name was to her, and how much pride she took in being a Kirigiri detective, so he had insisted on taking her name instead of the other way around. Kyoko had repeatedly assured him that it wasn't necessary for him to do so, saying that he could keep his family name, and even explaining that she wouldn't mind taking _his_ name if he wanted. But when he asked if it would make her happy for him to take her last name, and she'd said yes, that settled it. Makoto wouldn't budge an inch on the matter, and his dedication to her happiness elicited a smile from her whenever she thought about that moment.

More obviously, he had recently invited her grandfather to visit them. After treating him to a nice dinner, Makoto had found time to speak to him in private, and by the time he left, her grandfather was being much friendlier with her boyfriend than she had ever seen him be. It didn't take a detective to figure out that Makoto had taken the opportunity to ask for his blessing, and for permission to become part of the Kirigiri family.

Knowing Makoto, she figured that he had already bought a ring if he had asked for her grandfather's blessing, which probably meant that the only thing stopping him from proposing was himself. She wouldn't be surprised if he was worried that she'd reject him; in spite of her best efforts, he still remained rather insecure about their relationship. There was also the fact that he had a tendency to go above and beyond when it came to her and their relationship, so he was probably waiting for the perfect opportunity to…

 **Oh.**

 _ **Oh.**_

Kyoko dropped the apple she was holding onto the table, her eyes widening in realization as she came to a conclusion that, in hindsight, was _incredibly obvious_.

If Asahina noticed her friend's epiphany, she didn't say anything, instead, she continued to dig into her lunch. After washing down her food, she turned to her friend and grinned. "Soooooo, Kyoko," she said playfully, lightly elbowing her arm. "When are you and Makoto gonna get married?"

"Well, most likely soon, since I'm expecting him to propose later today."

Her eyes widened and her posture stiffened.

 **Did I just say that out loud?**

A quick glance at Asahina confirmed that yes, she _had_ indeed just said that out loud, judging by the way her eyes were the size of dinner plates and her mouth was forming a perfect "O". Hastily excusing herself from the table, Kyoko rushed out of the cafeteria before she could be caught up in the inevitable explosion that her friend was about to release. By the time she was out of her chair, Asahina's expression had become a wide toothy grin and she was letting out an almost silent squeal of excitement.

Asahina carried on like this, grinning from ear-to-ear, emitting a high-pitched but almost silent squeal like a teapot that was just about ready to be taken off the stove. By the time Kyoko was out of the building and heading towards her meeting with Makoto, Asahina was shaking with excitement, which did not go unnoticed by her students.

Once all of the students lined up for P.E. class, they noticed that instead of starting the class, their coach was just standing in front of them grinning and buzzing with excitement. This wasn't the first time that this had happened, so her students didn't find it too odd. They did, however, know that their teacher was prone to very energetic and very _loud_ bursts of excitement, so they were all hesitant to do anything that might set her off.

One young man, who was braver than the rest, approached his teacher cautiously.

"Um, Coach?" he said, trying to get her attention, to no avail. "Class is about to start. Um… you're doing that thing again, where you...vibrate...and stuff."

Hesitantly, he tried poking her in the arm to see if it would elicit a reaction from his teacher.

The poor boy might as well have set off a bomb.

* * *

" _SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!_ "

Makoto jumped as the piercingly loud squeal of joy rang out from the campus. Even from the garden outside the school, he could clearly hear and recognize Asahina's loud squeal of excitement. He began panicking for a minute at the loud noise, before remembering that Asahina only squee'd at things she really liked, and in fact the most common cause of squee-ing was… his relationship with Kyoko.

 **Crap.**

Makoto panicked for a moment before taking a deep breath and reassuring himself that he was safe. There was no way his plan had gotten out, the only person who knew what he was planning was Kyoko's grandfather, and he certainly wouldn't have told anyone, at least, not anyone that could tell Asahina about it. The only way that Asahina could've found out about Makoto's plan was if Kyoko figured it out and told her.

 **Double-crap.**

He sighed. It wasn't that he expected Kyoko to find out about his plan, he couldn't really hide anything from her, but it was nice to pretend for a while. He stuck his hand in his suit's inner pocket for the umpteenth time that day, making sure that the box was still in there. Sure enough, it was, and he sighed in relief. He wasn't expecting it to magically disappear on him, but with his luck, it never hurt to be too careful.

Staring up at the beautiful blue sky above him, Makoto sighed once again as he sat down next to the flowerbed and scratched his head. Maybe coming out an hour early wasn't the best idea. But who could blame him for being impatient? He'd been planning this for months! The moment he'd been waiting _years_ for was finally coming, and he didn't know how much longer he could wait.

With nothing else to do, he bent over and started picking some nearby flowers.

* * *

Kyoko made her way down to the garden for her meeting with Makoto, still slightly flushed from her talk with Asahina. She didn't know how she could have blurted out something like that, and the piercing squeal that was clearly audible even as she left the building only reminded her of her little slip-up. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she opened the gate into the garden using her ID card and stepped inside.

The Hope's Peak Academy garden was a sight to behold, a true marvel of nature and the result of a great deal of hard work by the botanist's club along with the entire school. It was practically a small forest in the academy's backyard, trees and plants of varying species grew everywhere, which various critters used as their habitat, and the botanist's club was constantly planting new ones. The garden was even used by certain professional groups as research material. The construction of the garden was a specific request by Headmaster Makoto Naegi halfway into the school's second year, made possible with the help of several volunteer student organizations and clubs, several members of the faculty (including the members of the 78th Class) and files which were recovered from the old academy building written by the former Ultimate Botanist, Santa Shikaba. Makoto was immensely proud of the school's accomplishment, calling it the "Crown Jewel of the New Hope's Peak". However, as impressive as the garden was, Kyoko was interested in one particular part of it.

At the center of the garden was a huge field of grass and flowers, which was their favorite part of the garden. On Makoto's suggestion, the two of them had gone there on a romantic outing, since the garden was normally restricted to unauthorized personnel (which, since they ran the school, meant they could go in more-or-less whenever they wanted and have it all to themselves), and it had since become a common meeting spot for them whenever they needed time alone but didn't want to be locked up in her office. Their most common activity while at the flower fields was making each other flower crowns. It had started off as a silly little way to pass the time when they were still high schoolers living normal lives, his idea, of course. Then when they found the garden, she'd dozed off for a minute, and when she woke up, there was a flower crown on her head, just as he finished making a matching one for himself, wearing the dorkiest most adorable smile she'd ever seen. Since then, it had become a sort of tradition for them. It was silly, and goofy, and childish, and she _loved_ it. Not to say that they spent all their time making flower crowns, they did all sorts of things in their private little hideaway, ranging from picnics to talking to laying on the grass, and all the other things that couples generally do. They'd even tried making love there once, and in the process had learned that sex was _really_ meant to be done indoors.

It was here in their own little private paradise that Kyoko found her boyfriend, already kneeling by the flower beds with a picnic basket and blanket laid on the ground beside him, picking flowers and arranging them into a crown.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," she said as she approached.

He jumped in surprise, but beamed as he turned to her. "Kyoko! It's fine, you're not late, I was excited so I just got here really early," he said as he stood up and walked over to her to wrap her in a hug.

Kyoko smiled warmly as she returned the hug and met him in a kiss. She flushed as she pulled away a moment later. "So, you said you wanted to show me something?" she said with a calm smile, masking her excitement.

Makoto blushed brightly as he responded with a nervous smile. "Um...well, I was thinking that we should eat first, here," he said as he retrieved the basket and opened it up to pull out a bottle of wine. "I bought your favorite, and I made us lunch, too."

Kyoko smiled as he handed her a glass and uncorked the bottle to pour wine into it. She thanked him and helped him set up their food on the blanket, before taking a sip of her wine and smiling.

"Oh my, Makoto, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to intoxicate me," she joked, laying down on the blanket.

"Only with my _love_ ," he joked back, causing her to laugh.

"You are such a dork."

"And you love me for it."

She giggled again, raising her glass. "Well I suppose I can't argue with that," she said as they toasted.

An hour or so later, the pair of lovebirds had finished their picnic and were relaxing on the grass together. Bathing in the sunlight and enjoying the cool breeze. As they laid hand-in-hand, each of them wearing a flower crown that the other had made, Kyoko sighed in contentment and turned to look at her boyfriend. The bottle of wine was currently resting in the basket, only half-full, as they had decided against finishing the bottle for fear of risking intoxication. As it was, Kyoko had drunk enough wine that she couldn't really be considered drunk, but just enough to make her feel bold enough to grab him by the tie and pull him towards her to capture his lips in a passionate kiss. Makoto was shocked for a moment, but quickly regained his wits and wrapped his arms around her as he returned the kiss. Feeling encouraged, she playfully bit down on his lower lip, causing him to gasp slightly, giving her tongue an opening into his mouth, an intrusion which Makoto wholeheartedly accepted.

Rolling over so that Kyoko was underneath him, Makoto broke the kiss to give her a quick peck on the cheek, then on the ear, and trailing down to her jawline, lingering for a moment on her hidden scar, before going down towards her neck. Each kiss elicited a soft giggle from Kyoko, until she gasped when he reached her neck. She grabbed onto his hair and pushed him forward, urging him on, but, to her disappointment, he stopped after a few more kisses to her neck and raised himself up.

"You know...if this goes any further, we're gonna have to go inside," he said breathily, flushed and panting.

"Would that be so bad?" she asked, removing one of her gloves before placing her hand on his cheek. "You still need to repay me for earlier."

Nuzzling his hand against her cheek affectionately, he smiled at her before sitting up and pulling her up with him so that she was sitting on his lap. "Well…" he said, blushing. "I still have something I want to show you."

Her expression brightened and she leaned forward. "Show me, then," she whispered.

Makoto sighed, her reaction more-or-less cementing the fact that she knew what he was planning, but he smiled brightly and stood up, pulling her up with him. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he looked at her seriously. "Alright, could you close your eyes?"

Kyoko blinked curiously, but smiled and nodded her head as she closed her eyes. She heard a rustling sound in front of her, a slight click, and a few moments later she felt Makoto take her ungloved hand in his. She smiled in anticipation, then, to her confusion, she felt something cold and metallic on her wrist. For a brief moment, she felt herself return to the old Future Foundation Headquarters, but her beloved's soft voice carried her back to reality.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Kyoko's eyes opened, and she gasped at what she saw. Around her wrist was a golden bracelet, with a single diamond embedded in the middle of it. Pulling her hand up to inspect it closely, she marvelled at the beauty of it as it shone in the sunlight. Her eyes widened as she noticed an engraving on the bottom side of it. Turning her hand so she could read it clearly, she gasped as she saw what it said.

 _You are my hope_

 _I will always be by your side_

"I know it's kind of cheating since they're your words, but… I always wanted to say them back to you."

Kyoko looked up at Makoto, and saw that he was wearing a matching bracelet on his wrist, sans the diamond, he smiled at her.

"Do you like it? I-I know this sort of thing is usually done with a ring, b-but I thought that would be uncomfortable for you with your gloves, so I, uh, improvised," he said with a warm smile, blushing brightly.

"It's...beautiful, thank you, Makoto," she said, smiling at him, and biting her lip in excitement.

"I'm glad you like it, but I'm not done yet," he replied eagerly, grinning smiling nervously.

Makoto took her hand in his, and got down on one knee. She gasped, and her smile widened. He cleared his throat before beginning.

"Kyoko Kirigiri, I know this is long overdue, but I want you to know that you are the light of my life. Meeting you is the best thing that's ever happened to me, you've been there for me through thick and thin. Seeing you reminds me that no matter what struggles we go through, or what dangers we face, as long as we can still believe in hope for tomorrow, it'll all be worth it. You make me feel like I'm someone special, someone who can really make a difference, I'm never happier than when I'm with you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Kyoko, you are my hope, I love you with every fiber of my being." He gulped, and took a deep breath, before continuing. "That's why I want- no, _need_ , to ask: Kyoko Kirigiri, will you marry me?"

Tears of joy welled up in Kyoko's eyes, and she covered her mouth with her free hand to hold back a sob, but even that wasn't enough to hide her smile. "Do you even have to ask?"

Makoto chuckled. "Well, maybe not, but I thought it would be nice if I did. So, what's your answer?"

In response, Kyoko tackled him to the ground and kissed him as she wrapped her arms around him, a gesture he wholeheartedly returned. "Yes!" she said as she broke off the kiss, tears flowing freely and dripping onto his face. "Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!"

Laughing with glee, Makoto pressed another kiss to her lips before pulling back and wiping away the tears that streamed down her face by kissing them, even as he began to tear up himself. "Kyoko," he said, sniffling as the tears began to flow freely. "I promise to make you the happiest woman in the entire world."

Kyoko laughed, imitating him by kissing away his tears. "You already have," she said as she nuzzled her forehead against his.

"Then I promise to make you happier than you ever thought possible!" he replied eagerly, kissing her again.

She giggled at his enthusiasm, but returned the kiss, putting her ungloved hand on his cheek. "That's quite a promise to make, I sure hope you intend to keep it. But still, I expect great things from you...Makoto Kirigiri."

* * *

 **Couple bits of interesting trivia that I couldn't fit into the story.**

 **1) How can Makoto afford a pair of solid gold bracelets with a diamond large enough to look like a scaled-up wedding ring? Togami's standard birthday gift is a tv-style giant check with a ludicrous amount of money on it, so the whole 78th Class (Minus Hagakure because he's an excessive spender who blows all his money on crystal balls and shit) has enough money saved up to retire, Makoto dipped into his retirement fund.**

 **2) What inspired Makoto to make a forest behind his schools? He got Kyoko some flowers once as a gift, and while thanking him she off-handedly made a casual comment about wanting to plant some more flowers around the school. Since Makoto does not even know the meaning of the word "chill" this eventually devolved into planting an entire forest.**


	3. Scars

**And here is the third chapter of Moving Forward. Today's story is about scars, which is a rather common topic when it comes to naegiri (for obvious reasons). I've been really looking forward to writing this story, and I'm very happy with how it came out. Also, this chapter is** _ **much**_ **shorter than the last one, and most chapters from here on in will be closer to this chapter in length.**

 **Once again a big thanks to my friend The Apocryphal One for beta-reading for me, and to 8fight for letting me use their art for the cover. Also a huge thanks to everyone who's left a review on my story. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and please tell me what you think!**

* * *

 **Scars**

Kyoko Kirigiri _hated_ her scars. Unfortunately for her, her husband seemed to love them.

It wasn't a matter of vanity...well, it wasn't _entirely_ , a matter of vanity. She didn't just hide her scars because they were unsightly; she hid them because of what they represented. Her scars hid memories that she would prefer to avoid bringing up.

Her hands were scarred because of her mistakes. Those scars served as a reminder to be more careful with who she placed her trust in, an expensive but invaluable lesson. She wasn't as cold as she was when she was younger, she had her friends and family to thank for that, but she didn't hand out her trust easily. She had learned to be prepared for betrayal, and to understand when emotions needed to take a backseat to cold logic. Makoto was the one who saw the good in everyone, who gave out his trust freely, and while she admired those qualities in him, it was also her responsibility to balance out his trusting nature. She was the careful one, the cold one, the distrustful one. He was the kindhearted one, the warm one, the one who believed in the inherent goodness of other people. That was how they worked together. For better or for worse, her hands had made her who she was.

Her facial scars were a different matter. They weren't something she would call a mistake; indeed, if she had to relive that event a hundred times, then she would die for Makoto a hundred times. There was no doubt in her mind regarding that matter. But, try as she might, she was not made of steel, she was not unshakeable. The cold hard truth was that she was still human, and like most humans, she was incapable of simply forgetting about her brush with death.

She still didn't like thinking about it; her feeble attempts at making light of it weren't much help, and even if her makeup hid her scars from the rest of the world, she was always aware of them. They were always there, always taunting her. Even if the rest of the effects faded away, even if she escaped with her life, she would never be able to escape from the moment where she came within a hair's breadth of losing everything, the moment when she had to choose between her life or the life of her most cherished ally. The moment where she closed her eyes and fell into the abyss. She thought she was ready, she believed in Makoto, she believed that her words would be enough to allow him to go on, she knew that he could save the world. But as she fell into darkness, she realized how unprepared she truly was.

She felt regret at not getting the chance to tell Makoto that she loved him, she felt guilt for knowing that she would force him to feel responsible for her death, she felt like a failure for not being able to stop the game before her time had run out, but most of all, she felt fear: the fear of death. She had dealt with death her whole life, she had come close to death more than once, and she thought that she was prepared to face her own death. She was wrong, woefully wrong. Even after years had passed, she still hated thinking about that moment, but of course, she couldn't just forget about it, not when that purple stain remained on her face. She had never been the sort of person who worried too much about her appearance, but now the first thing she did every morning was apply foundation to hide her scar, and she made it a point to reapply it as soon as she could if her makeup was smudged.

And yet in spite of this, her beloved Makoto didn't mind her scars. No, he didn't just not mind them, he seemed to love them. As affectionate as he was (and he was _very_ affectionate), he always seemed to take special care to shower her scars with affection and attention. Shortly after they became a couple, he would start kissing her hands whenever she took her gloves off in front of him, and whenever their kisses became more passionate, he would make it a point to kiss her scars, often smudging her makeup in the process (it was _always_ worth the chore of having to reapply her foundation). It wasn't like he kissed her scars _exclusively_ , of course, there was hardly an inch of her body that he _hadn't_ kissed at one point or another, he just tended to focus his affections on the parts of her that she considered ugly, often telling her how beautiful she was.

She loved it, at first. The first time he took her hands in his, brought them to his lips and covered them with kisses, her heart skipped a beat. When she first felt his warm lips on her scars, she got goosebumps on every inch of her skin. She voiced her pleasure in soft moans and it urged him on, much to her enjoyment.

But over time it… got old. Eventually, his lips on her scars stopped reminding her of how much he loved her, and instead reminded her of the awful memories associated with her scars. It was incredibly frustrating for her to be in the middle of an intimate moment with her husband, only to be thrown out of it when he moved his lips to the bottom of her jaw and kissed her scars, and suddenly the mood was ruined.

She didn't say anything about it, of course. She knew he had good intentions and she wasn't about to make him feel bad for trying to make her feel good about herself, so whenever he took her hands in his and started kissing them, or when his lips lingered on her jaw, she just shut her mouth and kept quiet, waiting for him to move his lips to the parts of her body that she enjoyed having kissed.

But of course, everything has a breaking point, and eventually, her patience reached its limit. Unfortunately, this just happened to occur while the two of them were half-naked and in bed.

She wasn't exactly sure how they'd gotten there. It seemed like one minute they were just enjoying a nice homemade dinner, and the next thing she knew, they were embracing each other in bed. The time in-between that was a blur of soft lips, wet tongues, and sweet whispers. It wasn't a particularly uncommon occurrence, he seemed to have a knack for knowing just what to say to get her in the mood, even though she was practically certain it was unintentional on his part.

As they rolled around on the bed, shedding off layers of clothes, his kisses began to spread out, as they usually did. His lips moved from her lips to her cheeks, back to her lips, then to her forehead, then down near her neck. He hesitated for a moment before leaving a soft bite on the skin of her neck, causing her to let out a soft gasp. She buried her face in his hair and gripped on to his locks, urging him on. Unfortunately, this led to him bringing his lips to her scar, and in the heat of the moment, she let out a groan, not one of pleasure, but _annoyance_. This did not go unnoticed by her husband, who immediately shot up and looked at her with concern and panic in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry! D-did I do something wrong?"

She wanted to curse herself for being so sloppy, but merely shook her head and leaned in for another kiss. "No, I'm fine, just keep going," she muttered.

Makoto wasn't convinced and pushed her away with a look of concern in his eyes, pleading with her. "Kyoko, that didn't sound like nothing, if something's wrong then please tell me."

"It's nothing, really," she insisted, a bit too quickly. Kyoko began rubbing her husband's back and leaned forward, trying to reclaim the mood, but he pushed himself off of her.

He frowned at her. "Kyoko, I can tell when something's bothering you by now…" he said softly.

Well, the mood was certainly gone now. Sitting up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear, Kyoko sighed as she contemplated the downsides of falling in love with the one man on Earth who would rather talk about her feelings than have sex with her.

"I… I don't like it when you kiss my scars," she admitted in a whisper as she brought her knees to her chest.

Makoto instantly shot up in panic. "Oh! I'm so sorry! Why didn't you tell me it hurt? I would've stopped right away!"

Kyoko turned away from him. "It's fine, it doesn't hurt me. The pain has long since faded."

"W-well then...why?"

She sighed quietly. A few minutes of silence passed before she answered him, but Makoto didn't press her, he just waited patiently for her to continue.

"These scars...they aren't just an ugly mark on my body," she began.

Makoto was tempted to point out that there wasn't an _inch_ of her that wasn't beautiful, but he held his tongue.

"These scars are a reminder. They're the mark of shame I have to bear for the mistakes I've made," she explained. She looked at her hands and clenched her fists.

"And they bring back memories that I would prefer to forget." Kyoko brought up one hand to rub the discolored part of her jaw, and then sighed.

"I… I understand _why_ you insist on kissing them all the time, and I don't… _hate_ it, but…" She took a deep breath before turning to look him straight in the eye. "I know that you're just doing it to make me feel better, but it's not necessary, and it just brings up unpleasant memories."

"W-well, it's not _just_ because of that," he whispered, somewhat nervous.

Kyoko turned to face her husband with a curious look in her eyes. "What do you mean?"

He smiled warmly at her. "Well, it's true that I know you're self-conscious about your scars, so I try to make you feel better, but I really _do_ mean it when I tell you that you're the most beautiful woman in the world to me, with or without your scars."

"But that's just it," Kyoko huffed irritably, bringing her knees closer to her chest. "You said 'with or without', but I know that you'd prefer it if I didn't have these scars."

"Well of _course_ I would; I never want you to be hurt!"

"Yes, but aside from that, I know that these scars are ugly, and I know that you think so too, so you can just admit it; it won't bother me."

"W-well, I _don't_ think so. Kyoko, I love your scars."

"But you _don't_ ," she answered. "You love _me_ , and by extension you love my scars, but I know you don't like the scars themselves."

"You've got that wrong."

She turned to him with a look of confusion and surprise. "Huh?"

"Kyoko," he said tenderly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I really do mean it when I say that I love your scars."

This did little to dispel her confusion, if anything, it only made things worse. "W-what are you…"

Makoto chuckled, with a light blush appearing on his cheeks. "Ok, so maybe that didn't come out right. Let me explain."

Makoto took her hands in his own, holding them softly and rubbing his thumbs along them tenderly. "Like you said, these scars aren't just marks on your skin to me. When I look at them, I don't just see charred flesh, I see what they _represent_. It's just that I see things a little bit differently from you."

"I know that the meaning behinds these hands is really important to you. These scars changed you, they're a part of what makes you who you are, and I know how hard it is for you to show these scars. Do you remember what you told me back in Hope's Peak all those years ago? You only show your hands to…"

"..To my family," she finished in a hushed whisper.

He grinned from ear-to-ear. "Yeah, to your family. That's why, whenever you take your gloves off around me, I feel so incredibly honored that you trust me enough to show me the part of you that you won't show to anyone else, and it makes me so, _so,_ happy to be reminded that I'm a part of your family. That's why I always want to make sure you know how much I love you, and how much I love seeing your hands."

Letting go of her hands, Makoto brought his hands up to gently cup her face. "This one is a bit…different."

He took a deep breath and then let it out in a shuddering sigh before continuing.

"When…when I thought you died back then, it… it was almost too much for me. I think that was the closest I ever came to just… giving up. Thinking that you died for me... it was the worst experience of my entire life."

"But then," he said, smiling brightly. "A miracle happened. You were alive, you came back to me. When I saw you standing there, in the sunlight, I was _so_ happy. It was the happiest moment of my entire life."

"Although... it's been dethroned since then," he added, glancing meaningfully at the golden bracelet on his wrist. "I remember, at that moment, I truly felt… like I was the luckiest man in the world," he whispered tenderly, leaning in to place a light kiss on her lips before pulling apart and resting his forehead against hers.

"Whenever I look at that scar, I remember how incredibly blessed I am to have you with me, to be able to see you, to hold you in my arms, to have the chance to kiss you, and it makes me want to make the most of every moment I have with you."

"That's why, Kyoko," he whispered. "I really, honestly mean it when I say that I _love_ your scars, just like I love every single part of you, from the bottom of my heart."

Pulling apart from her, Makoto took a deep breath and sighed before giving her a reassuring smile. "But, if it bothers you, then I'll stop. I just wish you'd told me sooner, you know I'd ne-mmmph?!"

He was cut off when Kyoko pounced on him and captured his lips in a passionate kiss, which he wholeheartedly reciprocated for a moment before breaking it off.

"W-wait up a second," he said breathlessly. "D-does this mean I'm still allowed to kiss your scars or…?"

"You can kiss me wherever you want, just as long as you _don't stop_ ," she replied in a low, husky tone.

He agreed to her terms.

Kyoko Kirigiri hated her scars, but with some help from her husband, perhaps she could learn to live with them.


	4. Nightmare

**Hello everyone! Here's chapter 4 of Moving Forward. Today's theme is Nightmares, something which I've already written about a few times with Naegiri, but hey, it works. I'm pretty happy with how this chapter came out, and I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **As usual a big thanks to 8fight for letting me use their art for the cover and a big thanks to my good friend The Apocryphal One for beta reading. Also a HUGE thanks to everyone who's left a comment/review on this. Honestly, I love getting comments on my work, I'm an attention whore when it comes to this stuff tbh.**

 **A couple other things to mention: first of all, this story contains a reference to the first DR fic I wrote, Kirigiri's Nightmare, and while it isn't vital to understanding the story, I would still suggest that you go read it if you haven't (Shamlessly Plugging My Own Fics). Also, for those of you who haven't yet, I highly recommend that you read my stories for Naegiri Week if you enjoy this fic. Like I've mentioned before, those fics take place in the same 'verse as this fic, and in fact, a few of the stories for Naegiri Week came from scrapped ideas for this fic, so please go read it if you like this and tell me what you think (Shamelessly Plugging My Own Fics: the Sequel).**

* * *

 **Nightmare**

 _Makoto ran down the hallway of the Future Foundation's headquarters. The formerly bright building that once bustled with activity was now dreadfully empty and dark, and debris littered the hallways. The building that was formerly a symbol of Hope for the world had fallen into the grip of Despair, just like the Foundation leaders who were trapped inside the building._

 _Naegi gulped, trying to calm his nerves as he arrived at the door to his destination. Munakata had challenged him over the intercom, and he couldn't refuse, not with what was at stake. So, even though he was almost certain it meant his death, he opened the door. Waiting for him was Munakata, sword in hand, with one black eye glaring at him while the other was covered by a bandage. Next to him was Kyoko Kirigiri, standing on a chair with a noose around her neck and her arms hanging limply at her sides; the left side of her face was bruised and bloody, and her left eye was swollen shut from the brutal beating she'd endured._

 _The second he saw her, Makoto desperately cried out her name and rushed forward, only to freeze when Munakata raised his blade to her neck and pressed it threateningly against her throat, stopping him in his tracks._

" _L-let her go," pleaded Makoto, his throat dry._

 _Munakata ignored his plea, merely glaring at him. "So you've come, Naegi. I was beginning to think you were too much of a coward to face the consequences of your actions."_

 _Makoto gulped. "I... I'm sorry, I just wanted to protect everyone...I just wanted to spread hope."_

" _And where has that gotten you?!" Munakata snapped, moving his blade away from Kirigiri's throat to point it at Makoto. "Your so-called "hope" has cost the Foundation everything! Every single person who died here is dead because of you!"_

" _B-but I…"_

 _Whatever retort Makoto was about to give was cut off when he felt something slam into his back, knocking him to the ground. He tried to get up, but he was instantly slammed back down by a foot stomping on his back, pinning him to the floor. As Naegi grunted in pain, Juzo Sakakura stood over him, grinning triumphantly._

" _No more words, Naegi. It's time for you to learn an important lesson: that blind optimism will get you nowhere, that your words and ideals are just as powerless as you are. Your luck won't save you this time, no one will come to your rescue. At long last, you will pay for what you've done," Munakata declared, his blackened eye narrowing hatefully._

 _Makoto broke out into tears as he raised his head from the floor. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Kill me, punish me, do whatever you want with me! Just please," he begged tearfully, "please just let Kirigiri go, she has nothing to do with this."_

" _You've got that wrong," Munakata growled spitefully._

 _Makoto gasped as Munakata approached Kirigiri before turning to glare at him. "Because of you, I had to watch the woman I love die before my very eyes, while I was powerless to do anything…"_

" _No! NO! Please, I'm begging you, don't!"_

" _And now... it's your turn."_

 _Munakata kicked out the chair that Kirigiri was standing on from underneath her feet, her eye widened in shock as the ground gave way beneath her feet and the noose tightened around her neck. Makoto struggled to break free from underneath Sakakura's foot, but the boxer took hold of his hair and kneeled on top of his back, pinning him in place and forcing him to watch as the love of his life slowly suffocated to death._

" _NO! NO! PLEASE! TAKE ME INSTEAD! I'M BEGGING YOU!"_

 _Kyoko struggled in vain to move her arms and to suck in a breath, her legs flailing wildly and her face turning blue from lack of oxygen, while Makoto continued to scream._

" _NO! KYOKO! KYOKO! PLEASE, NO!"_

 _Slowly, Kyoko's struggles lessened, while Makoto's only grew more frantic. As Kyoko stopped moving, Makoto screamed louder and louder, he cried out in horror and as he saw her life slip away right before his eyes, he came to a horrifying realization: he was powerless, there was nothing he could do to save her. Kyoko Kirigiri was going to die, there was nothing he could do about it, and it would be all his fault._

" _KYOKO! KYOKO!"_

"KYOKO!"

Darkness. He didn't know where he was, but everything was dark. He could move now, but he couldn't see her anymore; everything was dark, he was hyperventilating, where was she? He tried to find her, flailing frantically as he tried to get to his feet. He felt something grab hold of him and a voice saying something that he couldn't make out, but he didn't try to make sense of what it was saying because he _needed to save her._

"KYOKO! KYOKO! LET ME GO! I NEED TO HELP HER!"

"Makoto, calm down!"

Calm?! How could he be calm at a time like this?! Kyoko was dying! He had to get free, he had to find her, he had to-

"I HAVE TO SAVE HER!"

"Makoto! I'm here, I'm okay, just calm down!"

He recognized the voice this time, and it brought him back to reality. He stopped his flailing, and he slowed his breathing. He tried to find her face, but his eyes still hadn't adjusted to the dark so he had to go by the sound of her voice. Fortunately, she soon spoke up again, making it easier to find her.

"Are you feeling better now?" she asked softly, her voice laced with concern.

He took in a deep breath before answering, feeling around in the dark to find her face before placing a hand on her cheek.

"Y-yeah...I think I'm fine now. Thank you."

"I'm going to go turn on the light now, is that okay?"

He nodded his head, but then he realized that she probably couldn't see him so he answered her quietly. "Y-yeah, don't worry."

Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, Kyoko removed her arms from him and turned on the lamp beside their bed. With the light on, he could finally see her face, and he was relieved to see that she was perfectly fine, save for the poison scar near the bottom of her face, and what looked like a small bruise that he didn't recognize forming on her cheek. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch it. She flinched instinctively, before giving him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing," she said gently, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"D-did I…" he trailed off, letting his unspoken question hang in the air.

She hesitated for a moment, letting out a sigh before answering. "When you woke up, you were thrashing around a lot, and when I tried to calm you down your elbow bumped into me. It's fine, honestly."

Makoto grimaced before taking her in his arms and burying his head in her shoulder, muttering apologies over and over again. Kyoko sighed, returning his hug and rubbing soothing circles on his back while she reassured him that she was fine, and that he'd done nothing wrong.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked once he had calmed down.

He nodded his head, but didn't move from his position, still holding on to her. "I... I was back at the Foundation headquarters. Munakata took you hostage, so I went to him and…" He paused to take a deep breath before continuing. "Y-you had a noose around your neck and you were standing on a chair. He told me that...that everything that happened there was my fault, and that I needed to pay. I begged him to let you go but he…" Makoto didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need to, the way that he tightened his grip on her and shook with silent sobs made it clear what happened next. Kyoko just kept holding on to him and reassured him that everything was okay, letting her husband get it all out of his system.

"I... I couldn't do anything, I just had to...to watch while you...you…" he choked out in between sobs.

"It's okay Makoto, I'm here now, I'm fine, nothing that happened to me in that dream, or in real life for that matter, is your fault," she whispered soothingly, letting him cry into her shoulder as she rubbed circles on his back and kissed his face.

"I'm weak… I can't protect anything…" he muttered dejectedly.

"It's okay, Makoto…"

"But it isn't!" he snapped, tearing himself away to look at her face-to-face. "What am I supposed to do the next time you're in danger?! I can't just sit there and pray for a miracle like what happened last time!"

Makoto buried his face in his hands and cried softly. "I can't protect myself, I can't protect you, I can't protect _anyone_."

Kyoko took him in her arms and let him rest his head in the crook of her neck, running her fingers through his hair soothingly as she kissed him on the forehead. "It may seem that way now, but I promise you, you're stronger than you realize, so believe in yourself. Even if something does happen to us, I'm sure we'll find a way out of it, we'll think of something. We always have."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because of you."

"Huh?" Makoto looked up to see Kyoko through the tears in his eyes, as she gave him a radiant smile.

"You're the one who taught me to never give up. You showed me that no matter what happens, as long as we still have hope, things will be alright, remember?" She wiped away his tears with her thumbs, and rested her forehead against his. "That hope of yours has saved us before, and I'm sure that it'll save us again. You're the one who taught me to believe in that, and it's because you're here with me now that I can still believe in hope. Even if we're not strong enough alone, or even with each other, together with all our allies, we can do anything." She held up her arm to show him her wedding bracelet. "We made a promise, to live on for each other's sakes, and to always be together. That's a promise I intend to keep, no matter what happens."

Makoto's eyes widened as he swallowed a lump in his throat, while Kyoko leaned in and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her and eagerly returned the kiss. When they pulled apart, he saw that she was blushing, and judging by how hot his face felt, he imagined that he was, too.

Kyoko leaned in so close that their noses were touching and closed her eyes with a contented sigh. "My love, my hope. It's thanks to you and your hope that we've made it this far, so please, have more faith in yourself, and whenever you can't, have faith in me, because I will _always_ have faith in you, and I will _always_ be here for you."

Makoto rushed forward and kissed her so hard that she was pushed down onto their bed. Her eyes widened in surprise at first, but she soon closed them again as she embraced him and returned the kiss. When they were done, he pushed himself up so that he was hovering above her, staring at her with a loving smile.

"I love you."

"I love you, too," she replied, placing a hand on his cheek.

Makoto placed a hand over hers and smiled gently at her before sitting up, pulling her up with him as he wrapped her up in a hug, which she returned wholeheartedly.

"Are you feeling better now?" she asked softly.

"Yes, I am, thank you Kyoko. I'm sorry for waking you, let's go back to sleep."

"It's alright Makoto, I told you, I'm always here for you," she said as she pulled away for a moment to turn off the lights.

The room was engulfed in darkness once again, but even if he couldn't see her, Makoto Kirigiri didn't have to wonder where his wife was. She was right there with him, in his arms and by his side, safe and sound, and she was going to stay that way. He pulled her closer, snuggling up against her and kissing her cheek.

"When did you get so good at pep talks?" he joked.

Kyoko chuckled. "Well, I learned from the best."

"Thank you, Kyoko," he whispered into her ear, leaving a light kiss against it. "For everything. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I promise you'll never have to find out," she answered as she nuzzled her face against his neck.

"I'm always here for you, too. If you ever need me, I'll be right here. I promise," he said, kissing her forehead and breathing in the scent of her hair.

"I know Makoto, thank you."

A few minutes later, she heard her husband snoring softly, and looked up to see him sleeping peacefully. The sight warmed her heart, and with a smile on her face, she left a light kiss on his lips, careful not to wake him, before closing her eyes and letting sleep claim her.

 _I will always protect you_ , she thought, before drifting off into a peaceful rest.

* * *

Makoto wasn't the only one who suffered from nightmares. Kyoko was haunted by her own bad dreams, different in content but similar in nature to her husband's nightmares. Her nightmares were often about being helpless, forced to watch her loved ones suffer and die while she was powerless to do anything. The worst of these was a recurring dream that began plaguing her a few months into their marriage. She didn't react as violently as her husband did, but there were more than a few nights when she woke up in a cold sweat. On these nights, she looked to her side and found her husband sleeping peacefully and safely. Not wishing to disturb him, she merely snuggled up to him, and let herself feel safe in his arms. Most nights, either by instinct or because he had stirred awake, he put an arm around her wordlessly and pulled her close. Smiling peacefully, she let the sound of his breath lull her to sleep.

She understood, of course, that her way of dealing with her nightmares wasn't exactly healthy. She knew from experience that bottling things up would only hurt in the long run, but still, she kept quiet about her nightmares. Perhaps it was petty of her, but she felt like if she admitted it, she would let them win. The ghosts of her past, the demons that had already taken so much from her, her pride forbid her from allowing them another victory, so whenever she had a nightmare, she just woke up, cuddled her husband, and went back to sleep.

But of course, this eventually backfired.

" _Why Kyoko? Why couldn't you save me?"_

Kyoko screamed within her nightmare, and she screamed as she woke up. Shooting awake with a loud screech that woke up her husband beside her as she continued to scream in horror.

"Kyoko? Kyoko! What's wrong?!" he asked as he tried hug and reassure her, only to be pushed away by his terrified wife.

"STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" she shrieked as she tried desperately to crawl away from him. Eventually, she ran out of space on the bed and tumbled down to the floor with a loud thud, prompting her husband to let out a gasp of panic and concern, but she paid him no mind as she continued to crawl away, until she was up against the wall with her knees tucked up against her chest and sobbing.

Makoto panicked for a second, taken aback by his normally stoic wife's sudden outburst, but he quickly composed himself and turned on a light before walking over to Kyoko and stopping a short distance away from her before crouching down to speak to her.

"Kyoko?" he called gently. When she didn't respond, he shuffled a bit closer before speaking up again, slightly louder. "Kyoko, it's me, Makoto, everything's alright now. Nothing's going to hurt you, I promise. I'm going to put my arms around you now, is that okay with you?"

Makoto waited patiently for her to answer, feeling his chest tighten as he saw his wife crying softly for what felt like an eternity but was probably closer to a minute or so. Eventually, she nodded her head. He took that as his cue to go in and wrap her up in a hug. Once his arms were around her, Kyoko arm's instantly shot out and wrapped around him, surprising him as she buried her head in his chest and resumed sobbing for a couple minutes. Seeing her hurt like this made his heart break, but he just held onto her and let cry as much as she needed while he ran his fingers through her hair and whispered reassurances into her ear.

Once Kyoko calmed down a bit, Makoto spoke up again. "Kyoko? Are you feeling better?" he

whispered, his voice tinged with concern.

"Yes…I think so," she replied, her voice still a bit hoarse from all the crying she'd done.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked.

Kyoko hesitated for a moment before answering. "I… I had another nightmare."

Makoto pulled away from her to look at her face to face. "Another? Kyoko, how long has this been going on?"

Kyoko's eyes were still puffy and watery from crying, so she chose to hang her head rather than look him in the eyes when he asked his question. "About a week now…" she answered quietly.

Makoto sighed before leaning back in to kiss her on the cheek. "Kyoko…it's not healthy to keep things bottled up like that."

Kyoko let out a quiet groan of resigned agreement. "I know, but I didn't want to talk about it."

"You know you can always talk to me Kyoko, about anything," he reassured her.

Kyoko tightened her grip on his arms. "I know…"

Makoto began rubbing circles on his wife's back to help soothe her. "Would you like to talk to me about it? It's okay if you don't want to, but I think it would help you, and I just want to see you feel better. It breaks my heart to see you like this, Kyoko."

Kyoko bit her lip, brows furrowing in contemplation for a moment before she spoke up. "I…I've been having the same dream for some time now…" she began.

Makoto shifted so that he was sitting up against the wall, letting her do the same and looking straight at her to make sure she knew she had his full attention. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it gratefully before continuing.

"It always begins the same way: I'm back at the Foundation headquarters during the killing game, I wake up and I find you next to me…" she paused for a moment, taking a shuddering breath. "…Dead. I don't want to believe it, I _can't_ believe it. So I try to investigate the body for some proof that it's not real, that it's all a lie. But I can't find any. I start to panic, and that's when _she_ shows up…"

Kyoko stopped to compose herself for a minute, while Makoto just put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "It's okay, take all the time you need," he reassured her.

She nodded gratefully before continuing. "Junko Enoshima appears before me, mocking me, taunting me over your death. By now I've usually realized that I'm in a dream, and I can force myself to wake up, but sometimes it doesn't work and the dream keeps going," she explained. "I try to attack her. I want to make her pay for everything she's done, I want revenge on her for hurting you, but I can't touch her. I just go right through her and I wind up on the ground, pinned under her foot. That's when the ghosts appear."

"Ghosts?" Makoto asked, already starting to guess where this was going.

"Our… our classmates, the ones who died back at Hope's Peak." She took another deep breath to calm herself before continuing. "They all start asking me 'why', they ask me why I couldn't save them, why I wasn't good enough, why I couldn't stop the game in time. Then my... my father appears. He blames me too, for failing to save him, for failing to save my friends… for failing to save _you_."

Kyoko felt her gut twist in pain and buried her head in Makoto's chest, feeling him put a protective arm around her and kissing her head, making sure she knew that he was there for her, and that he wasn't going anywhere. His presence soothed her, and she gripped his shirt with the hand that wasn't holding on to his like a lifeline, before speaking again.

"It… it hurts. I try to ignore it, but no matter how hard I try, it still stings to hear that from all of them. Up till now, I've been able to force myself awake at some point during all of this, but… not this time. Enoshima drags me over to your corpse by the hair and forces me to look at you. Your corpse comes to life, and you look right at me, then you ask me… you ask me…"

Kyoko broke down in tears again at this point, crying softly into his chest. Makoto patted her head and let her vent her sorrows, as he continued to reassure her. She didn't need to tell him anything else, he could already tell how her story was going to end.

"It's okay, Kyoko. Everything's fine now. I'm here, I'm fine, I promise you I'm not going anywhere. You're safe here," he gently repeated as she continued to cry.

A few minutes later, Kyoko finally ran out of tears, and she slowly pulled away from her husband with one last sniffle, before resting her head on his shoulder. Makoto continued to pat her on the head and kept holding on to her hand.

"Kyoko…" he called gently, prompting her to look up at him through the tears still in her eyes. "None of that was your fault. You went above and beyond in trying to save everyone," he said as he kissed away the tears still lingering on her eyes and face, causing her to smile slightly in spite of herself.

"Back at Hope's Peak, you solved almost every mystery we had to face, I know you always talk about how I got you out of there, and everyone calls me a hero, but the truth is that without you I never would've made it as far as I did. You saved me more times than I can count, and everyone who got out of there owes you their lives, Kyoko."

"But I couldn't stop it all, I couldn't save everyone in time, and not only did I almost doom you to execution, but when I was faced with despair, I almost sentenced you to death again just because I was too weak to face it. I'm a failure, as a detective, and as a friend…" she muttered.

"Kyoko, you're not a failure. You're incredible. Just because some of our classmates gave in to despair and killed someone doesn't mean that you're to blame, and when all of us almost died in those trials, you pulled through and saved us all by finding the culprits. I know you feel guilty about what happened in the fifth trial, but it wasn't your fault, that was all a trap by Enoshima to try to kill you, and if it had succeeded, then we never would've gotten out of there without you to help us find the truth."

Kyoko's eyes widened slightly, and Makoto rested his forehead against hers as he continued to speak.

"And you didn't give in to despair, not really. If you had then I wouldn't have been able to pull you out of it. It's because you still had hope that I was able to save everyone. Besides, it was thanks to your help and encouragement that I kept holding on to hope. So please, don't blame yourself for anything that happened back then, you were amazing, and all of us, but especially me, owe you _so much_."

Kyoko turned away from him, unwilling to meet his gaze. "I still couldn't stop the Final Killing Game in time. Because I couldn't find a way out of there soon enough, I forced you to go through the same pain that I went through when I almost watched you die…"

She would've continued, but Makoto took her face in his hands and forced her to look him in the eyes, as they narrowed in determination.

"Kyoko, please, do _not_ feel guilty for choosing my life over yours. That is the farthest from selfish you could ever be, and it was _not_ your fault. That rule on your bracelet was never fair, nothing in that game was, it was all just a drawn-out execution made so that some crazy old man could achieve his twisted version of 'hope'. So please, don't blame yourself for any of that," he said resolutely. He couldn't bear to see his beloved wife beating herself up because of something that wasn't her fault, especially when she had been selfless enough to give up her life for him.

Makoto peppered the side of Kyoko's face with kisses as he continued to speak. "I won't pretend that it didn't hurt me, because it did hurt, it _really_ hurt me, but it wasn't your fault. What's important is that you came back, you're here now, and I can hold you in my arms and know that you're not going anywhere."

Kyoko shifted in his arms. "But I… I still should have been able to deduce that the Chairman of the Future Foundation and one of the Branch Heads were both insane. If I had been a better detective then none of that would have happened in the first place."

Makoto sighed. "Kyoko, you can't blame yourself for something like that. None of us could have possibly had a reason to think that either of them were anything but good, sane people. It's not your fault that you can't see the future. And even with everything that happened, even knowing that you were probably going to die, you still managed to solve the mystery behind that game, and saved us. Kyoko, you're incredible, and I'm going to keep saying that because it's absolutely true," he said as he nuzzled his face against her neck lovingly. "I'm going to keep on telling you how amazing you are until you think you're as amazing as I think you are. Because I love you, I really, _really_ , love you, Kyoko."

Kyoko buried her head in his neck and tightened her hug on him. "Thank you…" she whispered,

He gazed up into her eyes for a moment before leaning in to kiss her, a gesture which she passionately returned. The kiss lasted for a few minutes, as neither of them wanted to be the one to break contact first, and both of them were more than prepared to ignore the need for air just for the chance to continue kissing their beloved. Eventually, as if linked by a psychic bond (or more likely because both of them needed to stop for air), they pulled away at the exact same time, albeit reluctantly. In between panting and gasping for air, they both smiled at each other.

"Any time, Kyoko. I'll always be here for you," he said as he nuzzled their foreheads together affectionately, causing her to let out a light hum of happiness. "Now c'mon, let's get to bed. Sitting on the hard ground like this can't be good for our backs. Or our backsides for that matter," he said with a chuckle as he helped his wife up and lead her to the bed.

"Right…" she said quietly.

Makoto turned off the light and laid down in bed, covering himself with the sheets and patting the space next to him for Kyoko to join him, she hesitated for a moment, but soon joined him. As soon as she under the covers with him, he wrapped his arms around her and began cuddling her, he noticed that she was oddly stiff as he did however.

"Kyoko? Is something wrong?"

She was about to say no, but she quickly realized that hiding her feelings had been what got her into this situation in the first place, so instead she answered truthfully. "I… I don't want to go back to sleep," she muttered.

"Why not?" Makoto asked quietly.

Kyoko turned her head in shame. "I'm scared. I… I'm afraid that if I go back to sleep I'll have another nightmare," she said as she let out a shaky breath and felt her cheeks warm in embarrassment.

Makoto sighed. "Kyoko, you know you need sleep, right?"

"Yes, but we don't have work tomorrow, so I can afford to stay up late…"

"That's not the point…"

Kyoko grabbed Makoto's hand and squeezed it lightly. "I know. I know I need to sleep but… I'm not sure I can… not tonight."

Makoto kissed her on the forehead. "Then I'll stay up with you," he said, grinning brightly.

"You need your sleep, Makoto. You don't have to stay up with me," she objected.

"I know. But I want to. Don't worry, I promise you won't have any more nightmares tonight," he said as he drew her closer to him and cuddling her.

Kyoko sighed in contentment, letting out an almost silent giggle at her adorable dork of a husband. "You're such a dork… thank you, Makoto. I love you."

"I love you too."

A few hours later, Kyoko Kirigiri was fast asleep with her head on her husband's lap, who was sitting up in their bed and running his hand through her hair soothingly. She slept peacefully and calmly, her chest rising and falling slowly with each breath, while Makoto Kirigiri looked at his wife with a smile. Even though she had fallen asleep, he had no intention of sleeping. Instead, he would watch over her all through the night, and the instant it seemed like she was having a nightmare, he would shake her awake. He had promised her that she wouldn't have any more nightmares that night, and he meant it.

Makoto stiffened in alarm as he felt her shift, but he relaxed when she merely nuzzled against his stomach and turned slightly, letting him see a small smile on her sleeping face. Such a beautiful sight made his heart soar, and he leaned down to leave a light kiss on her lips. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but it almost seemed like her smile widened ever so slightly. Kyoko didn't have any more nightmares that night.

"Sleep tight, Kyoko. I promise you won't have any more nightmares tonight."

 _I will always protect you._


End file.
